U.S. Department of State Publishes January 2019 Visa Bulletin
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Link:https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Bulletins/visabulletin_january2019.pdf
Pasricha & Patel Takeaways:
The just-published January 2019 Visa Bulletin shows only slight movement in the employment-based preference categories. The initial prediction made by the U.S. Department of State’s Charlie Oppenheim (he is the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division for the U.S. Department of State) back in the summer of 2018 that the EB-1 preference category (extraordinary ability; researcher & professor; and multi-national executive/manager) would see the retrogressed dates revert back to ‘Current’ has not come to fruition.
It appears that the USCIS is continuing to experience high volumes of filings of adjustment of status petitions in all the major employment-based visa categories, and that is necessitating the Department of State’s continuing need to hold the visa numbers well into the 1st quarter of fiscal year 2019, with some slight movement for all countries, particularly in the EB-1 preference category.
As these visa numbers continue to be held, the hope is that this could slow down the pace of adjustment of status petition filings, and ease the demand for the visa numbers, and thereby push the visa numbers back to normal in the 2nd quarter of fiscal year 2019.
We suggest readers keep an eye out for any updates on this issue via our website. And should our readers have any further questions about the various visa preference categories, please do not hesitate to contact our office to schedule a consultation to discuss this matter further.